Meet The Team

Michelle Rochester

Throughout her life, Michelle’s great love has been for dancing. Her other main passion is improving the lives of children. And she has successfully combined the two through her work in schools.

Michelle has achieved extraordinary results, not only in Bath & North East Somerset but also with children all over the county. The knowledge thus gained has been central to developing the structure and format of the Dance Notes schemes. And the emphasis on pupil-led exploration comes directly from Michelle’s many years’ experience in schools.

As co-founder and producer of Dance Umbrella in Bath, Michelle has seen take-up of dance in schools form Primary through to Sixth Form blossom. She also founded the charity Make a Move, with which Dance Notes is affiliated. This originally set out to overcome scarcities of funding in schools for children with learning or behavioural difficulties. It has since gone from strength to strength, branching-out into mental and physical healthcare, as well as work within the private sector.

Tracy Alcon

Lesson Contributor (KS1 & 2)

Tracy’s passion for dance began at secondary school culminating in graduation from the London Contemporary Dance School in 1991. While there she was privileged to study under some great contemporary pioneers, such as Jane Dudley and Robert Cohan.

Since graduation Tracy has participated in and taught just about every discipline and age group, from Bhangra through Salsa to Street Dance. Additionally training as a fitness instructor to teach Kick-Boxing and Pilates.

These days Tracy continues as a freelance choreographer and full time primary curriculum dance teacher, where she loves to bring instruction that motivates and encourages the children to achieve their fullest potential. Tracy believes the greatest reward for her dedication to the art is witnessing the children succeeding and having fun in the process.

Kara Herbert

Lesson Contributor (KS1 & 2)

Kara has been working as a freelance dancer, choreographer and teacher since graduating in 2002, with a BA Hons in Creative Arts: Dance & Visual Arts.Delivering Make a Move’s dementia and schools projects, Kara has been a contributor to Dance Notes since 2013.

Alongside dance, Kara has been practicing yoga for 11 years. Over that time, her passion and interest to learn more has grown. She has qualified to teach Vinyasa Flow Hatha Yoga, a style which compliments her dance teaching beautifully. Kara is a professional member of Yoga Alliance and Foundation for Community Dance. She was also a key founding member of Bath Dance Forum.

Adept at delivering sessions to a range of individuals with varying ages, bodies and levels of experience, Kara always aims to create a relaxed and fun atmosphere for her classes. This, as well as challenging and embracing the needs of each individual, is exemplified in her lesson contributions to Dance Notes.

In her own practice and teaching, Kara is interested in exploring the connection between Yoga and dance, studying how each can help tap into the creativity within us.

Aviva Epstein

Lesson Contributor (KS1)

Aviva has always had a passion for performing. She has been lucky enough to experience a wide range of disciplines professionally, from years of classical dance training to musical theatre; even touring with a circus.

Aviva is founder of Fidgety Feet, providing classes and resources for Early Years dance & drama .

This grew from the realisation that there was little provision in these areas of learning for her own children. Building on that experience, Aviva has become a regular contributor to Dance Notes for lessons at KS1. There are also plan to introduce Early Years schemes to the Dance Notes lesson library. So watch this space!

Brian Madigan

Founder; Composer; Sales manager

Brian’s love for dance began as a music student in London during the late 1980s and early 90s. There he specialised in collaboration with Dance students, going on to become an accompanist for ‘Graham’ technique classes.

Later, Brian co-founded ‘The Production Factory’ dance-theatre group and continued to collaborate with dancers as they moved into work in education. With the introduction of Dance within the National Curriculum in 1992, Brian was then encouraged to offer his services to schools. And so Dance Notes was born.

In addition to dance, Brian has composed for film, advertising, theatre and computer games. He also performs live on drums and percussion in a variety of musical settings and is active as a singer-songwriter.

Published by

Madmusik
62 Holcombe Vale
Bathampton
BA2 6UX

Tel: +44 (())1225 313082

About This Site

Dance Notes promotes creative, collaborative, child-centered learning through movement. The methods used are informed by the research of - and developed in collaboration with - the charity 'Make a Move'.